


Perched in a Tree

by Pixxyofice



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Feelings Realization, also yes the oc cat is Definitely Important mhm, i gotta admit i have no idea for the other tags, i was just like 'i need more kannao' and i am a writer and therefore i shall provide, i wrote this at like 1 am so im sorry for any glaring errors, no beta we die like men, p4 protag is called souji seta, takes place after Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23999350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixxyofice/pseuds/Pixxyofice
Summary: You're cute too, Kanji,Naoto's brain supplied.Naoto's brain screeched to a halt.---When Naoto was supposed to be working on one of her devices, she turned her attentions to Kanji instead. Maybe she shouldn't have done that.
Relationships: Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	Perched in a Tree

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about Kannao, and my brain was like, 'i want to see a fic where she slowly realizes her feelings!' but that's really not my style or speed, so just have the Actual Realization.
> 
> Enjoy!

It's the week after Golden Week. 

It's a week after Souji had left Inaba to go back to Tokyo. It's a week after the events that revealed the existence of a previous Persona group; a week after the events that brought the two of them in contact and closer together.

It's the week after Golden Week, and Naoto is sitting high up in a tree, looking down at the devices in her hands.

Naoto realized that she had to improve on a few of her devices after the incidents of Golden Week. One of the devices she used was a mini tracker that only really worked from a short distance away. As the week passed by, she wondered if she could possibly increase the tracking distance at all. Sometimes she would find herself distracted in class thinking about possible ways to add to the tracking distance; she would think of how to boost the detection, how to send more than one signal, how to make a better attachment material with whatever she had to add...

After a day in class where Naoto almost missed the entirety of a subject due to thinking about that, she decided to get to work.

Naoto sat with her legs curled around a tree branch, letting the leaves be her shelter as she ran her fingers over the sides of the devices. 

The metal material was nice to the touch, and she let her blue eyes gaze over the lines on the metalwork. She could see only minor mistakes in the casing, the outsides only slightly misshapen... Yes, the shape of the tracker was the perfect size for what she needed it to be. Naoto only needed it to be small, unnoticeable, and send location signals. Her only problem with the tracker was that she needed it upgraded. 

Naoto knew it could be better, but how she could do that while also keeping the tracker's shape generally the same was what was getting her stuck. A higher vantage point and a look over the town she loved to stay in... while they may not help her with her problem, it helped her clear her head. It was another point of view, and Naoto sometimes found solutions to her problems when up somewhere high.

She ran her thumb over the side of one of the trackers again. The one with the lesser polish to its exterior would be the one she would take apart today. Naoto knew she would likely lose pieces to the grass below if she tried to pry one open here, but she needed to get a look inside of the tracker to see how everything inside linked together. Maybe she could save some space, maybe she could rearrange in order to fit more into the smaller package—

She heard footsteps.

Naoto glanced up from the trackers in her hands, her movement stilling as her blue eyes caught on the figure she had heard approaching.

Kanji Tatsumi. The blonde-haired man was walking down the road, close to where her tree was. His jacket was wrapped around his waist, leaving just his white uniform out in the open.

Naoto found herself making herself smaller, trying to blend into the leaves on the tree. Something in her chest tightened.  _ What is he doing here? _ Classes had been over for a while by now, and Kanji had gone home. Naoto knew he had gone home, because she had walked with him and said goodbye to him at the door. Kanji didn't usually go outside to work on his knitting projects, did he?

She noticed something being held in his hands. Naoto leaned forward slightly, watching as Kanji paused in the road and let his hands brush over the top of it. It was... a small box. It had seen much use, judging by the small scuffs in the side and what seemed to be fading pencil markings decorating the box.

There was a small cat a few feet away from Kanji. It was one of the cats Naoto saw Souji feed while the two of them were thinking over one of the mysterious letters Naoto received. If Naoto remembered right, this one was Masami. This small cat had one white paw and a white patch over one eye, with the rest of her body being black.

Kanji reached up to the top of the box. Naoto watched steam float into the air as Kanji slipped the top of the box off. Masami's attention was brought in Kanji's direction immediately, and the small cat's ears perked up... then drooped down at the sight of Kanji, slightly backing away.

Naoto didn't know why her heart leapt into her throat when Kanji spoke.

"Senpai says I should be more gentle..." Kanji said, leaning down and placing the box on the ground. The wind wasn't blowing in Naoto's direction, so whatever was in the box was a mystery to her. Kanji sat down, pushing the box forward. He breathed in, out, then backed away from the box. "Says I should be more... patient, I guess." He placed his hands on his knees, straightening his back and watching the box. 

There was a smile on his face, nervous but joyful. The way he had his hands on his legs seemed intimidating, but the tap of his fingers revealed that it was just because of the nervousness in his system.

Another twist in her chest.

Masami slowly approached the box. Her ears were slowly lifting up, and her tail wasn't hiding between her legs anymore. The mostly black cat walked forward one, two more paces, then got onto her back paws. Her front paws landed on the edge of the box, and the cat looked inside, tail waving slightly.

The cat glanced up to Kanji. Kanji stiffened for a moment, but nodded. The cat leaned into the box of food, starting to chew on whatever was inside. From what Naoto could tell from her perch in a tree, it was some sort of meat.

Kanji lifted one hand from his knee, and slowly extended it towards Masami. He stopped just short of the box, his eyes watching the cat chew on her meal.

Naoto found her eyes going to his face.

He had a content smile on his face. The sides of his eyes were angled up slightly, and his eyes were glowing with happiness. His cheeks seemed to stain red, though it wasn't especially visible from her viewpoint.

Her chest twisted again.

Masami stopped eating, looking up from the food to lock Kanji with a curious stare. The boy extended his hand out in a jittery motion, and Masami jolted back, paws barely on the edge of the box now.

"Dammit," Kanji cursed.

He reached out further. He was slower this time, and Masami didn't retreat from his hand this time. 

"Sorry 'bout that. Senpai tol' me t'be patient, t'be gentle, but..." Kanji laughed, but his face lost the happiness it was glowing with just moments earlier. Something in Naoto squirmed, but she grit her teeth and just watched as Kanji sighed. "'ade it look easier 'an it is, I guess." He adjusted his hand, slowly, and showed the palm side of it to Masami.

Masami leaned forward again, starting to sniff at Kanji's fingers. As she sniffed, Kanji's shoulders loosened up again. Masami's nose traveled over Kanji's hand, and the smile— the happiness— returned to Kanji's face.

"You're cute, aren'tcha," Kanji said, offering more of his hand.

_ You're cute too, Kanji _ , Naoto's brain supplied.

Naoto's brain screeched to a halt.

_ The two of them together, under the same umbrella? Something about that made her heart tighten in her bound chest, made her want to shift nervously as Kanji got rained on in front of her. As Kanji dashed off towards the school in a hurry, something in Naoto panged with hurt— _

_ The two of them are studying, and Kanji's been getting into a good rhythm with his work. Naoto's offered to answer any questions he had, and up until this part of the session, he'd been taking advantage of that. However, the two of them had now fallen into a comfortable silence, and she found herself wanting to be closer to his side— _

_ He made the observation with such a matter-of-fact tone that Naoto could only blink at him. She blinked once, twice, before she felt her smile lift on her face and her heart swell— _

_ Rise's grin was sinister, and she leaned towards Naoto on the bench. She winked, a giggle escaping her mouth. "Naoto-kun, you could go out with Kanji!" Something in Naoto leaped— _

_ As her battle wounds were aggravated by her moving, Kanji ran towards her and wrapped an arm around her. Instead of the usual irritation from others doing such a thing, the only emotion Naoto had flowing in her from his arm wrapped around her was joy— _

_ As Naoto's teammates around her found themselves drowning in the black, tendriled hands, her eyes darted over to Kanji. A hand was rising up from the floor to grab at his leg, and her body was already moving before she could even have time to think about what she was doing. _

_ "KANJI!" She screamed, and she shoved him out of the way of the hands— _

_ Naoto had landed on top of him. She felt mortified for being unable to get up, but some part of her wanted to continue laying against his chest— _

_ Thinking about how Kanji had acted—how he had blushed— was burning a hole in her stomach— _

_ When the strike meant for the brown-haired kid had landed on Kanji, her heart leaped to her throat, and she stumbled in her steps. When the other figure started to prepare an attack, she shoved down the pounding of her heart— _

_ As Naoto stared down at the picture in her hands, she found her eyes glancing over to Kanji's figure in the picture. There was a smile on his face, and she was glad he wasn't cut out of the picture due to his height. He was special to her— _

Naoto struggled to get a grip on the devices she had almost forgotten were in her hands. She leaned forward to catch one that was falling, and caught it with her other hand, but her balance was upset. 

She let out a squeak that was definitely louder than intended, righting herself on the branch too late.

Kanji jolted up from where he was petting Masami. Masami jolted from that sudden movement, running off in the other direction. Kanji's eyes darted in Naoto's direction, wide and panicked and not a look she liked on him.

"N-Naoto?" Kanji stuttered, which didn't help Naoto's heart at all. The boy jumped to his feet, approaching the tree that Naoto had perched herself in. His eyebrows pressed together, and he reached out a hand before deciding better of it, dropping it to his side and staring up at her. "Wh-What are you doing up there?"

She was going to pretend the worry in his tone didn't make her heart skip a beat, and offered a smile at him. "I was sitting up here to clear my head." She responded. Her words were those she had often repeated to Souji and, therefore, practiced enough so she didn't stutter. 

Naoto extended one hand, fingers pressing into the side of the tracker she had gone here to focus on in the first place. 

"I—" She was going to curse her brain later. She was going to curse her tongue for slipping up on a simple i, as well. "I find it easier to think when I'm higher up, a-and—" She was going to curse her tongue again. Naoto flipped the tracker over in her hands, finding herself feeling lighter when Kanji focused his attention on that instead of how she screwed up saying a simple word in his presence. "I was thinking on how to improve my trackers. During the incident last week, there was a situation I used one in, and that brought to my attention some faults that I should fix while I have this free time."

"You made these?" Kanji asked, voice soaring with pride and curiosity as he glanced up to meet her eyes, and she met his gaze.

His lighter blue eyes were shining with joy, like they were for Masami earlier, and Naoto's brain helpfully supplied,  _ I wonder if he finds me cute.  _

She promptly shoved that thought away, looking back down at her trackers. She hoped he didn't see the burning on her face. 

"I-I did." Naoto really hoped that Rise didn't somehow find a way to eavesdrop on her, that would be very bad for how Naoto was acting. "I've been getting back into making mechanical devices in my spare time, and I..." She let her thumb rub over one side of the tracker again, reorganizing her thoughts. "It's... relieving, to make something."

"I think it's pretty cool!" Kanji said, walking closer to the tree. Naoto tried to force herself back into her previous mindset, one that was less aware of the reason for the twisting of her heart, and tried to meet his eyes. Kanji beamed, leaning against the tree. "You an' I could have a few craftin' sessions when we're 'ored!"

Naoto tilted her head, adjusting how she sat on the branch. She was tempted to reach for her hat to try and cover her face, but her hands were full, so she settled for rubbing the sides of the trackers again. "Would that be wise? My process has a tendency to leave mechanical parts stranded over the room, and I wouldn't want to—"

"You wouldn't get in th' way, Naoto." Kanji interrupted, and Naoto fell quiet. The tallest of the second years rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from her. "Trus' me. I get fabric all 'ver my room, and 'd worry more about me botherin' you than you botherin' me."

"You could never bother me, Kanji-kun," Slid out of Naoto's mouth before she could stop herself, and Kanji jolted, staring at her with wide eyes. She looked down at her trackers instead of his face. "When should we next meet?"

"Uh—" Kanji made a strangled noise, and Naoto found herself glancing at him. He was rubbing his hands through his hair again. Was that a bit of black at the roots? "H-How about next sunday? Your place is bigger than ma's, and you'd need your robot bits—"

"Mechanical parts," Naoto interjected, smile returning to her lips.

"Mechanics, and they're likely in your big ol' house anyway." Kanji waved a hand in the air, then looked up to Naoto. "That good?"

"That sounds wonderful, Kanji-kun." 

She beamed back at his smile.

Kanji then seemed to remember he brought a box, and he whirled back around to find two more cats had gathered around, chewing out of the center. He froze for a few moments, shoulders and elbows sharp, before he ran towards the box.

As he shouted at the cats to get off of his food, Naoto found a chuckle of her own escaping her. It was too low to be heard by Kanji, for sure, and for that, she was grateful.

Naoto did not do what she had set out to do today. 

But as she climbed down the tree, offering to walk home with Kanji once more with a heart that beat more rapidly than earlier that afternoon, she hoped that what she did gain today was just as worthwhile.


End file.
